Organization, Trust and Control: A Realist Analysis

@article{Reed2001OrganizationTA,
  title={Organization, Trust and Control: A Realist Analysis},
  author={Michael Ivor Reed},
  journal={Organization Studies},
  year={2001},
  volume={22},
  pages={201 - 228}
}
  • M. Reed
  • Published 1 March 2001
  • Business
  • Organization Studies
This paper develops a critical realist analysis of trust/control relations within and between complex organizations. It suggests that trust/control relations are most usefully seen as structures of interrelated `positioned-practices' which generate, shape and constrain the development of contrasting forms of expert power in a range of organizational contexts. The paper opens with a general overview of a number of currently influential theoretical perspectives on trust/control relations in… 
View on SAGE
308 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
20
Background Citations
126
Methods Citations
9
Results Citations
1

308 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Trust, Power and Control in Trans-Organizational Relations
This paper analyzes trust and power as means of co-ordinating trans-organizational relationships. It is argued that, depending on the institutional environment, there are two distinct patterns of…
Trust and power as means of co-ordinating the internal relations of the organization: a conceptual framework
Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this volume focuses on the trust processes between people within organizations, with an emphasis on empirical studies. Rational foundations and psychological…
Trust and Control Interrelations
This article introduces the special issue on New Perspectives on the Trust-Control Nexus in Organizational Relations. Trust and control are interlinked processes commonly seen as key to reach…
Trust and control – a symbiotic relationship?
Traditional approaches to management which incorporate top‐down systems of control do not readily accommodate the need, imposed by a changing business environment, for more flexible methods of…
Balancing trust and control in organizations: towards a process perspective
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that conceptualizing trust and control as interactively related processes, as opposed to more static conceptualizations of the two concepts and the…
Beyond Rational Order: Shifting the Meaning of Trust in Organizational Research
Trust is a key term in social sciences and organizational research. Trust as well is a term that originates from and speaks to our human relational experience. The first part of the paper explores…
Knowledge, Trust, and Control: Managing Tensions and Contradictions in a Regional Network of Service Firms
Trust is often considered to be a constitutive property of interfirm networks in general and of regional networks of service firms in particular. Although important as a lubricant of…
Trust and Institutions
Abstract: This paper deals with the role of institutions in the development of trust among individual actors (managers), among collective actors (firms), and between individual and collective actors.…
The Coordination of Relations Across Organizational Boundaries
This article discusses the shortcomings of the orthodox economic view on interorganizational relationships and suggests utilizing genuine sociological theory to gain a more realistic and elaborate…
Highlighting the complex interrelationship between the concepts of trust and control
This paper presents the area of management control and trust in an inter-organizational setting with an attempt to offer a fresh perspective on the complex relationship between and different…
...
1
2
3
4
5
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 27 REFERENCES
Co-operation in Inter-Firm Relations in Britain and Germany: The Role of Social Institutions
The first part of the paper will theoretically examine the social function of trust, the preconditions of the production of trust and the possibility of reconstructing power as a mechanism…
Corporate Strategy, Organizations, and Subjectivity: A Critique
This paper attempts to develop a new approach to the study of corporate strategy. It draws on the methodology of Michel Foucault to suggest that corporate strategy can be seen as a discourse which…
The McUniversity: Organization, Management and Academic Subjectivity
This paper uses elements of Weberian and Foucauldian social theory to speculate on the consequences of recent higher education change in the UK. We argue that changes in the political, institutional…
NEW MODES OF CONTROL IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE
Controversy exists regarding whether recent changes in the organization of the public services in the UK and elsewhere constitute a paradigm shift towards a post-bureaucratic form. This article…
Institutionalization and Structuration: Studying the Links between Action and Institution
Institutional theory and structuration theory both contend that institutions and actions are inextricably linked and that institutionalization is best understood as a dynamic, ongoing process.…
Modernism, Post Modernism and Organizational Analysis 2: The Contribution of Michel Foucault
This paper, the second in a series on the relevance of the modernist-postmodernist debate to organizational analysis, looks at the work of the late Michel Foucault. Whilst his work is seen as…
Tightening the Iron Cage: Concertive Control in Self-Managing Teams
In this paper, I provide an ethnographic account of how an organization’s control system evolved in response to a managerial change from hierarchical, bureaucratic control to concertive control in…
Governing economic life
This paper proposes some new ways of analysing the exercise of political power in advanced liberal democratic societies. These are developed from Michel Foucault's conception of ‘governmentality’ and…
The Means of Management Control and Labour Process Theory: A Critical Note on Storey
John Storey has criticised the labour process literature for its `monist' presumptions; that is, for developing simple generalisations which cannot deal with the diversity and complexity of social…
STRENGTH IS IGNORANCE; SLAVERY IS FREEDOM: MANAGING CULTURE IN MODERN ORGANIZATIONS*
The article subjects the assumptions and prescriptions of the ‘Corporate Culture’literature to critical scrutiny. the body of the article is devoted to teasing out the distinctive basis of its appeal…
...
1
2
3
...